The forex trading headlines for Asia Monday 03 February 2014
Weekend:
- Moody’s downgrades Ukraine over escalating crisis
- China official January manufacturing PMI comes in at 50.5 (expected 50.5)
- Polish PM Tusk sees no reason for intervention to support the zloty
- SNB would only scrap the 1.20 CHF cap if inflation was much higher
- Spanish PM Rajoy says taxes will come down gradually
Monday:
- Australia – AIG Performance of Manufacturing index for January: 46.7 (vs. prior was 47.6)
- Australia – RPData/Rismark house price index for January: +1.2% (vs. prior was 1.4%)
- UK data – January Hometrack Housing Survey: 0.3% m/m (vs. 0.5% prior)
- Australia – Building approvals for December: -2.9% m/m (vs. expected -0.5%)
- Australia – ANZ job advertisements data for January: -0.3% m/m (vs. prior was -0.8%)
- The Chinese Services PMI for January we found 10 minutes early, 53.4 (vs. prior was 54.6)
- New Zealand Treasury: RBNZ widely expected to hike rates in March
- Magnitude 6.1 earthquake strikes Greece
- Unconfirmed reports of explosion in New York – gas leak said to be the cause
- Indonesian exports rose 10.3% y/y in December
- SPOILER ALERT … Seattle Seahawks beat the Denver Broncos, 43-8
USD/JPY opened a few points weaker into the New Zealand morning, but found buyers again ahead of 101.90. As early Tokyo players began to trickle into the office USD/JPY caught a bid, trading higher throughout the morning to 102.30/35 and then settling just a few ticks of there into Tokyo lunch. Interestingly, throughout the morning session the Nikkei was very heavy indeed, having opened lower and traded down from there (into official 10% ‘correction’ territory, and to new 3-month lows, for those keeping score). Yen crosses, of course, generally higher with the better big USD/JPY.
EUR/USD sat in a tight range around 1.3485. USD/CHF had a tight range too.
GBP/USD lost ground early, down toward 1.6410 before back up to 1.6435/40 and then moving sideways within a 15/20 point range.
AUD/USD opened slightly better bid in the early Monday market, but encountered offers again ahead of 0.8775. It drifted back to 0.8750, traded higher toward 70 before making new session lows toward 0.8740 and settling sideways. Although there was significant data out in Australia today (a private gauge of inflation, building permits) and Chinese services PMI, it had a relatively sedate session.
NZD/USD gained ground quietly for much of the day, up to 0.8120.